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Holocaust survivor to speak at Penn State Behrend on Remembrance Day

Erwin Froman to discuss experience Thursday, April 12

Holocaust survivor Erwin Froman will discuss his experience later this week when he visits Penn State Behrend on Remembrance Day, Thursday, April 12, for a special lecture. His talk begins at 11 a.m. and will be held in room 180 of the college’s Jack Burke Research and Economic Development Center. It is free and open to the public.

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Holocaust survivor to speak at Penn State Behrend on Remembrance Day

April 10, 2018

Yom HaShoah, or Remembrance Day, is a day of commemoration for the approximately six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. For survivors like Erwin Froman, the poignancy of the day is significant.

Froman will discuss his experience later this week when he visits Penn State Behrend on Remembrance Day, Thursday, April 12, for a special lecture. His talk begins at 11 a.m. and will be held in room 180 of the college’s Jack Burke Research and Economic Development Center. It is free and open to the public.

Froman’s experience was not dissimilar from that of well-known writer Elie Wiesel. A native of Romania, Froman and his family were deported to Auschwitz in spring 1944. He never saw his parents after they had arrived at the camp, but he did reunite with four of his sisters after the war.

Froman was later sent on a death march from Auschwitz to a labor camp in 1945, which is where he was liberated by American forces in early May. He immigrated to the United States after the war and eventually settled in Lorain County, Ohio, where he opened up a kosher butcher shop.

His visit is sponsored by the history degree program at Penn State Behrend with funding provided through the School and Humanities and Social Sciences endowment. For additional information, contact Amy Carney, associate professor of history, at abc13@psu.edu.